This is Deal or No Deal, where one case leads to another, and the right case could lead to one million dollars. Hoping to hit a high note tonight is Bryce Gage, a high school choir director from Marble Falls, Texas (population 7,000). He is married with two children and admits to being super competitive. He claims to know this game better than anyone. Bryce plans to use his winnings to help him and his wife with their eventual retirement and buy a new TV for his living room.

Bryce believes the million is in case 2, which he picks in honour of his two daughters, who are sitting in the audience. Let’s go to work.

Round 1
[8] - $75,000
[26] - $75
[14] - $300,000
[1] - $25
[22] - $750
[20] - $200

All right. A pretty good first round nets a pretty good first offer, which is

BANKER'S OFFER

$23,000

But that’s not all. A Banker Babe walks out with a card, which Bryce reads. In addition to the cash, Bryce and his choir will receive an all expenses paid trip to London to perform in front of the Queen. Unfortunately, it’s London, Arkansas and the Queen in question is Dairy Queen. That trip package is worth $7,000, making the total value of the offer

BANKER'S OFFER

$30,000

Bryce says NO DEAL.

Round 2
[16] - $100
[17] - $50,000
[10] - $5,000
[23] - $400
[19] - $300

Another great round under Bryce’s belt. The second offer comes after the break.

We’re back, and it’s Banker time. The second offer is

BANKER'S OFFER

$46,000

We meet Bryce’s supports, which include his wife and two co-workers from his school.

Bryce says that the offer is roughly’s a year’s pay for a teacher. For the record, teachers are highly underpaid and something should be done about that. But despite that, Bryce says NO DEAL.

Round 3
[12] - $200,000
[18] - $100,000

Howie calls a break.

We’re back to complete round 3.

[9] - $5
[21] - $750,000

Three Power 7 amounts lost, but the millski is still up there. Despite those losses, the offer increased to

BANKER'S OFFER

$68,000

Bryce talks about how his school’s choir program once had only 19 kids in it, but now has over 200. He acknowledges that there are still some large amounts in play, so he says NO DEAL.

Round 4
Before the round begins, the board shows Bryce’s choir cheering him on back in Marble Falls. Howie then gives Bryce a card to read. The card honours Bryce as Mr. Marble Falls. The town will celebrate Bryce Gage Day and a local restaurant will serve a new hamburger created just the way Bryce likes it.

[6] - $1,000,000 - Ouch.
[11] - $500
[25] - $400,000

Well, that was the round from hell. Only one Power 7 amount, $500,000, remains on the board at this point. The next offer comes after the break.

Welcome back. Before the break, Bryce eliminated just over $1.4 million worth of prize money from the game. With one Power 7 amount left, the Banker tables him an offer of

BANKER'S OFFER

$20,000

Bryce’s wife wants him to play on. Another supporter says he should keep the counter offer in his back pocket for now. Bryce says NO DEAL.

Round 5
[24] - $10,000
[3] - $10

We’re trending in the right direction now. Banker time again when we return.

Deal USA plays on with the fifth bank offer of

BANKER'S OFFER

$37,000

One case to open if Bryce turns this offer. Bryce’s wife talks about her husband’s dedication to his craft. As a match teacher, she thinks the odds are in his favour and should play on. She and the supporters recommend a counter offer of $50,000, and Bryce does exactly that.

BANKER'S OFFER

$50,000

The Banker calls back quickly and rejects the counter offer. However, she offers Bryce a challenge. To win a new TV, Bryce, an accomplished basketball player, must beat Jonathan Isaac of the Orlando Magic in a shooting contest. That goes down after the break.

We’re back, and it’s time for Bryce to test his basketball skills against Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac. If he is successful, he wins a new 55-inch TV to replace the 18-inch set in his living room.

Ben, if you’re reading this, I can see you rolling your eyes because I know how much you love gimmicks on Deal.

The rules for the challenge are thus: Whoever gets the most baskets in 30 seconds wins the TV. After time expires, Bryce and Jonathan play to a 1-1 tie, meaning they both win new TVs.

Round 6
[5] - $50

We really needed that. The new offer is

BANKER'S OFFER

$69,000

“That offer pays off a third of my house,” says Bryce. “DEAL!”

Was that the right move to make? Let’s find out.

Proveout
Round 7
[4] - $25,000

BANKER'S OFFER WOULD'VE BEEN

$125,000

Round 8
[15] - $.01

BANKER'S OFFER WOULD'VE BEEN

$200,000

Round 9
[13] - $1

BANKER'S OFFER WOULD'VE BEEN

$349,000

Stop the recap. $349,000 on a $1,000 / $500,000 finish? What the hell is that? It’s so much above the mean - 139 per cent, to be precise - that it’s not even funny. This is not Le Banquier, where every offer made was an AMO. If Bryce were still in live play, I guarantee you that the final offer would not have been that high.

Rant over. Back to the recap.

Well, it looks like our choir master hit a sour note. This is confirmed as Howie opens case 2 to reveal $500,000. Case 7 held $1,000.

Bryce played a bit too conservatively and has taken the dubious honour of worst deal of the series away from David Leeman. But he does leave with a total of $69,699 in cash and stuff. Hopefully next week’s contestant will fare better, but I think the value of several broken plates might be deducted from his winnings. Find out what I mean next Wednesday. Until then, good night and good deals.

200 thousand on a $1/$1,000/$500,000 finish?

Good grief, those priveout offers were so inflated that you could pop them with a needle.

I actually didn't mind the basketball gimmick too much, though they should probably do stuff like that earlier in the game rather than shoehorning it into the serious stages when it looks like a player is about to Deal.